Turn off your computer. Bend the end of the paper clip outwards, so that you have a straight section of wire. Look closely at the front panel of your CD or DVD drive – you should see a tiny hole.

Push the wire into this little hole: you should feel a bit of resistance, but the paper clip will push in further and the disc tray will eject slightly. Pull the disc tray into the open position and remove the disc.

Remove the paper clip and power up the computer. Use the button to open and close the tray a few times. If the tray does not open consistently, replace the drive (see here for how to do this on a desktop PC).

On an Apple Mac

There are a number of ways to remove discs from an Apple Mac, so try each of these until you find one that works.

Try the following:

• Power up the Mac with the eject button held down.

• Power up the Mac with the mouse button held down.

• If your Mac has an emergency eject hole on the drive, follow the instructions above for ejecting a disc from a PC or laptop.

• If you have a MacBook, tilt the machine towards you while trying the first Mac solution.

• As a last ditch attempt to remove a disc from a MacBook, turn the machine off and insert a piece of thick (about 300gsm) card a little way into the drive slot. The card will stop the disc from turning. Power up the Mac with the mouse button held down and pull out the card. Hopefully, this will eject the stuck disk.

Consult a pro

If all of these methods fail, you may need to take the machine to a professional and have the drive replaced: on a laptop and a desktop Mac this is a job best left to the experts. On a desktop PC however, you can do this at home: see Repair or replace a CD or DVD drive on page 36 for instructions.